Breakin' on the One

On August 15th, 1981, a large, excited crowd gathered at the plaza of Lincoln Center in Manhattan for the Out-of-Doors Festival. The highlight of the event was a breaking battle between the Rocksteady Crew and the Dynamic Rockers. What unfolded would prove to be a seminal moment in American culture, a showdown that has reverberated for decades across hip hop, dance, race, and politics. Utilizing a trove of archival material from the 1980s and interviews with those who were there, this is the chronicle of how breaking transformed itself from a niche urban activity to an Olympic sport performed worldwide. It’s the tale of how a handful of innovators from often neglected corners of a struggling city helped create a cornerstone event for a movement, one that grew from its devastated borough origins to influence the highest ranks of sports and entertainment. Spanning much of the half-century since hip hop emerged in New York and became a cultural phenomenon, this is the story of how the breaking battle of 1981 helped create the world as we know it today.

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